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•S A JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALISM AND PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
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VOL. L X X III. No. 3401 S e p te m b e r, 1953

WHAT LIGHT STANDS FOR

LIGHT proclaims a belief in the existence and life of the spirit apart
from, and independent of, the material organism, and in the reality and
value of intelligent intercourse between spirits embodied and spirits
discarnate. This position it firmly and consistently maintains. Its
columns are open to a full and free discussion conducted in the spirit of
honest, courteous and reverent inquiry, its only aim being, in the
words of its m otto: “ Light! More Light I”

CONTENTS
Sidelights . . . . 225
Twelve Best Survival Cases. - 228
N o . 3. T h e M ich ael C o n le y C ase
By Edmund P. Gibson
Hypnagogic Visions . . . 233
By Phyllis Collard
A Case of Bellringing . . . 236
By J. E. Raw
Editorial . . . . 238
Summary Report of the First International
Conference of Parapsychological Studies
held at Utrecht . . . 240
I Lived in a Haunted House - - 244
By J. G.
Dog Story . . . . 247
By Colonel D. M. Noyes-Lewis
Reviews . . . . 248
Correspondence - - - 251
Price : ONE SHILLING AND SIXPENCE
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y »| i »| «»|i »|« *?«>| «^ o |«»|«| | i I |«| | | »|i | |i »Ti »|i t|f
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Open discussion in the pages of L i g h t is welcome, but the

Editor cannot be held responsible for views expressed by-
contributors.

Sidelights
u ro pea n cen tre of parapsychology . At the
E conclusion of the recent International Conference at Utrecht, Mrs.
Eileen Garrett announced over the Short Wave—which may or may
not have been heard by our readers—that she felt the importance of
establishing a European centre, to facilitate the continuation of the
good work accomplished at the Conference. She is already making
arrangements to transfer her publications to Holland. Everyone
interested in ESP must welcome this move to the cross-roads of
Europe. A Summary Report appears on page 240.
* * *
ERMANN BUHL, 29 years old Austrian conqueror of the
H 26,660 ft. mountain, Nanga Parbat, was reported in the Cork
Examiner recently to have said that when he started his downward
climb he knew he was not alone. Known as the “Mountain of
Death,” it is said to have killed twelve Europeans and a number of
Native porters since the beginning of the century. Although Buhl
disclaims belief in “ghosts and spirits,” he says he was ‘haunted’ by
a seductive voice calling his name, but was unafraid as he felt the
presence of some friendly being following him. The leader of the
expedition. Doctor Karl Herrlickoffer, who is a medical man, assumes
it to have been caused by want of food, fatigue and the rarefied air,
which, he is reported as saying, helped to produce hallucinations.
Buhl’s comment on this explanation is said to have been “maybe.”
226 LIGHT

“ n p H E SPEARHEAD” might be a not inapt description of the

A Spiritualist Council for Common Action. Inaugurated in 1951,
its objective was co-operation between Spiritualist Bodies representing
different views on the same subject. A concerted attack on problems
such as that presented by fraudulent mediums and the rights of those
Spiritualists in the Forces to whom spiritualism is a religion, was more
likely to be successful than individual action, and it is encouraging
to know that such co-operation has proved practicable and successful.
Broadcasting of services by religious Spiritualism, disadvantages
under which Spiritualist healers work, the safeguarding of genuine
mediums and action against dishonest persons masquerading as such,
co-operation with a view to increasing the prestige of the whole
Movement, are matters with which the Council is now concerned.
It is to be hoped that other religious Bodies, both Christian and
non-Christian, will follow this example and, sinking their differences,
present a united front in combating materialism against which until
recent years spiritualism has been fighting practically alone.

* * =1=

REAMS of a precognitive order are frequently of interest even

D though their mechanism is beyond our present comprehension.
Here is another, contributed by Mrs. Dorothy J. Garrett, the Author
of “Have I a sixth sense ? ” which appeared in L i g h t of last month.
One morning when ten years of age, she related to her mother a dream
of the previous night in which she was aware that a Mrs. Day had
died that same night. On her way to school the same day she met
Mrs. Day’s daughter (Mrs. Garrett’s Godmother), who desired her to
inform her mother that Mrs. Day had in fact died during the night.
On another occasion when not much older, Mrs. Garrett relates that
she announced at breakfast that news would be received of an uncle
who, she said, was in some trouble. Before ten o’clock the uncle
arrived and proved her correct. In this instance, however, it was
not a dream ; “ I just said it,” writes Mrs. Garrett, which is indeed
quite a good description of the manner in which these spontaneous
experiences occur. On several occasions during childhood, Mrs.
Garrett states, she saw in a dream errors in mathematical home-work,
the memory of which remained in her conscious mind in the morning
and proved to be factual and the error remedied accordingly.
 SIDELIGHTS 227

OUR GIRLS AND A TABLE furnish another example of odd

F experiences.
(page 244 of this issue of
the Author of “I lived in a haunted house”
with her sister and two other girls
L ig h t),
decided to try an experiment in table-tilting in which there was a
wave of interest at that time. Our contributor relates that the table,
a light one, escaped from them and “went teetering first on one leg
and then on the other” across the room to a chair on which one of
the girls was perched, where it fell to the floor. The narratress
remembers this incident the more clearly having been scolded
by her parents for damage caused to the chair by the frightened
girl in her effort to escape the table. What would not some investi­
gators give for these experiences which to the uninitiated are only
disturbing.
* * *

LCHEMY becomes insignificant in comparison with an experience

A related to us by the Head of the Booksales Department of the
London Spiritualist Alliance. The President having presented to the
Alliance a number of books from his psychic library, these readily
found purchasers at home and abroad, producing a profit of £16 to
the betterment of the Alliance funds. This booksales department is
doing first-rate work amongst enquirers and advanced students in
this and other countries. Readers who care to send their surplus
books on this subject to the Alliance would lend valuable assistance
which would be profoundly appreciated.
* * *
H E STUDY OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA is surely the only
T one where new-comers have to grope amongst a mass of literature
with no up-to-date text-book and no consecutive tuition. An
admirable attempt to remedy this in some measure is the forthcoming
course available at the Alliance. Conducted by the President of that
Body, Brigadier R. C. Firebrace, c .b.e ., the whole course will certainly
be interesting as well as instructive and is calculated to save persons
with limited leisure, much time and trouble, and can be augmented,
if desired, by a recommended course of reading.
>1= * *
Death but supplies the oil for the inextinguishable lamp of life.
—Coleridge.
228

Twelve Best Survival Cases

No. 3.
TH E MICHAEL CONLEY CASE

By E dmund P. G ibson

N instance oi very probable activity o f a discarnate personality

A which gave evidence oi continued knowledge of earthly events,
and which made a successful attempt to interfere in these events, is
contained in the study of a series of such cases compiled by Mr. Frederic
W. H. Myers under the title : “ On Indications of Continued Terrene
Knowledge on the Part of Phantasms of the Dead.” It is presented
in full in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. VIII,
pages 200-205. The apparition disclosed information known normally
only to the living man, and in a second item, only to those who laid
out his corpse. The apparition described his own appearance in the
coffin. Behind the apparitional appearance was the discarnate purpose
to disclose the location of a sum of money about to be destroyed, the
location of which was known only to the dead man. It was money
he had hidden. In this purpose, the ghost was successful.
Richard Hodgson, then Research Officer for the American Branch
of the S.P.R. investigated this case very carefully, and obtained
written statements from the persons concerned. The first knowledge
of the case came to the attention of Dr. Hodgson through a news story
attributed to a Dubuque, Iowa newspaper :
“The Herald, Dubuque, Iowa.
February n th , 1891.
A most remarkable incident has just come to light, and while it
cannot be said that the truth of Spiritualism is thereby demonstrated,
it furnishes a deeply interesting topic for those who make a study of
the human mind and would vainly attempt to explain some of
the strange impressions made upon it.
It will be remembered that on February 2nd, Michael Conley, a
farmer living near Ionia, Chickasaw County, was found dead in an
outhouse at the Jefferson house. He was carried to Coroner Hoffman’s
morgue, where, after the inquest, his body was prepared for shipment
to his late home. The old clothes which he wore were covered with
filth from the place where he was found and they were thrown outside
the morgue on the ground.
 THE MICHAEL CONLEY CASE 229

His son came from Ionia and took the corpse home. When he
reached there and one of the daughters was told that her father was
dead, she fell into a swoon, in which she remained for several hours.
When at last she was brought from the swoon, she said : “Where
are father’s old clothes ? He has just appeared to me dressed in a
white shirt, black clothes, and telt (misreported for satin') slippers, and
he told me that after leaving home he sewed a large roll of bills inside
his grey shirt with a piece of my red dress and the money is still there.”
In a short time she fell into another swoon and when out of it demanded
that somebody go to Dubuque and get the clothes. She was deathly
sick, and is so yet.
The entire family considered it only a hallucination, but the physician
advised them to get the clothes, as it might set her mind at rest.
The son telephoned Coroner Hoffmann asking if the clothes were still
in his possession. He looked and found them in the backyard,
although he had supposed that they had been thrown in the vault as
he had intended. He answered that he still had them, and on being
told that the son would come to get them, they were wrapped in a
bundle.
The young man arrived last Monday afternoon and told Coroner
Hoffmann what his sister had said. Mr. Hoffmann admitted that the
lady had described the identical burial garb in which her father was
clad, even to the slippers, although she never saw him after his death,
and none of the tamily had seen more than his face through the coffin lid.
Curiosity being fully aroused, they took the grey shirt from the bundle
and within the bosom found a large roll of bills sewed with a piece
o f red cloth. The young man said his sister had a red dress exactly
like it. The stitches were large and irregular, and looked to be those
of a man. The son wrapped up the garments and took them home
with him yesterday, morning, filled with wonder at the supernatural
revelation made to his sister, who is at present lingering between life
and death.”
A letter of inquiry addressed to the Dubuque Herald brought the
following reply:
“The Herald, Ham and Carver, Proprietors, Dubuque,
Iowa, March znd, 1891.
Mr. Richard Hodgson.
Dear Sir,
Replying to inquiry of February 25th, would say that the facts in
the case you mention are as stated in an article published in the Herald
of February n th , a copy of which is enclosed. The facts were given
230 LIGHT

our reporter, Mr. H. L. Sill, who wrote the article, by Mr. Mat Hoffmann
coroner for Dubuque County. We do not know the name of the
young lady’s physician, but you could probably learn it by addressing
J. A. Wood, Ionia, Iowa.
Yours truly.
Ham and Carver.”
“The Herald, Established 1836, Ham and Carver, Proprietors,
Dubuque, Iowa, March n th , 1891.
R. Hodgson.
Dear Sir,—I am in receipt of your favor of the 6th inst. and in answer
will state as tollows :—
Michael Conley came to Dubuque rrom Ionia, Chickasaw County,
Iowa, on some sort 01 business. He was round dead in the outhouse
at the Jefferson House, on Monday, February 2nd. Coroner Hoffman,
who is an undertaker, took charge ot the remains. The clothes were
covered with filth and thrown outside the morgue. Word was sent
to the family, and in a day or two the son of the deceased came and
took the remains home. The following Monday, February 9th, the
son returned, as stated in my article of February n th . I happened
in the coroner’s office while the son was still there, with the clothes-
wrapped in a bundle to take home with him. It was a few minutes
after the money was found. The story as published is as told me
by the son and the coroner, and, strange as it may seem, the published
account is not exaggerated in the least.
The coroner’s address is, “M. M. Hoffmann, Coroner, Fifteenth and
Clay streets, Dubuque, Iowa.”
I cannot tell you the name of Miss Conley’s physician. Ionia is in
Chickasaw County, Iowa, and over 100 miles from Dubuque. You
could ascertain by writing the postmaster there.
I will gladly do all in my power to aid your investigation.
H. L. Sill.”
M. M. Hoffmann, Undertaker and Embalmer, Dubuque, Iowa,
March 18th, 1891, wrote to Dr. Hodgson as follows :—
“In regard to the statement in the Dubuque Herald, about February
19th, about the Conley matter is more than true by my investigation.
I laughed, and did not believe in the matter when I first heard of it,
until I satisfied myself by investigating and seeing what I did.
M. M. Hoffmann, County Coroner.”
The Rev. J. M. Ferris of Earlville, Iowa received the following
letter regarding the Conley case, which was subsequently added to
Dr. Hodgson’s record :
 THE M ICHA EL CONLEY CASE 23 I

“Ionia, July 20th, 1891.

Rev. J. M. Ferris, Earlville, Iowa.
Dear Sir,—Will fulfil my promise as near as possible.
Elizabeth Conley, the subject of so much comment in the various
papers, was born in Chickasaw township, Chickasaw County, Iowa in
March, 1863. Her mother died the same year. Is of Irish parentage,
"brought up, and is, a Roman Catholic ; has been keeping house for
.her father for ten years.
On the 1st day of February, 1891, her father went to Dubuque,
Iowa, for medical treatment, and died on the 3rd of the same month
very suddenly. His son was notified by telegraph the same day, and
he and I started the next morning after the remains, which we found
in charge of Coroner Hoffmann.
He had 9 dollars 75 cents, which he had taken from his pocketbook.
I think it was about two days after our return she had the dream, or
vision. She claimed her father had appeared to her, and told her there
was a sum of money in an inside pocket of his undershirt. Her brother
started for Dubuque a few days afterwards, and found the clothes as
we had left them, and in the pocket referred to found 30 dollars in
•currency. These are the facts of the matter as near as I can give them.
George Brown.”
“Mr. George Brown is an intelligent and reliable farmer, residing
about one mile from the Conleys. A. Crum”
Dr. Hodgson received another letter sent to the Rev. Ferris by
Rev. L. A. Green, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ionia,
Iowa. The Rev. Green testified to the intelligence of the girl. He
described her as uneducated. He states that he doubts that there was
anything supernatural about her vision, “but am free to admit that
I am unable to account for some features of the case, admitting
as I must the veracity and sincerity of the young lady and her
Brother.”
The Reverend Amos Crum, pastor of the Universalist Church of
Dubuque, Iowa was in communication with Dx. Hodgson about the
case and on the 15th o f August, 1891 he w rote:—-
‘D ear Mr. Hodgson,—I send }v>u in another cover a detailed account
ot interview with the Conleys.
I could not get the doctor.
I have had a long talk with Mr. Hoffmann about the Conley incident
and think you have all the facts—and they are the facts.
The girl Lizzie Conley swooned. She saw her dead father, she
heard from him of the money left in his old shirt, she returned to
2 32 LIGHT

bodily consciousness, she described her father’s burial dress, robe,

shirt, and slippers, exactly, though she had never seen them. She
described the pocket in the shirt that had been left for days in the shed
at the undertakers’. It was a ragged-edged piece of red cloth clumsily
sewn, and in this pocket was found a roll of bills—35 dollars in
amount—as taken out by Mr. Hoffmann in presence of Pat Conley,
son of the deceased, and the brother of Lizzie Conley whose remarkable
dream or vision is the subject of inquiry.
Amos Crum, Past. Univ. Ch.”'
A later letter from Rev. Crum brought the facts that Lizzie Conley
was 28 years of age, in poor health since the death of her. father but
in excellent health previously. She had never previously had veridical
dreams or visions. She stated that her father was not in the habit
of carrying considerable sums of money on his person. She did not
know previous to the vision of the pocket in his undershirt and she
did not wash or prepare this shirt for him previous to his trip to
Dubuque. She said :
“When they told me that father was dead I felt very sick and bad ;
I did not know anything. Then father came to me. He had on a
white shirt and black clothes and slippers. When I came to, I told
Pat I had seen father. I asked Pat if he had brought back father’s
old clothes. He said ‘No,’ and asked me why I wanted them. I told
him father said to me he had sewed a roll of bills inside his grey shirt,
in a pocket made of a piece of my old red dress. I went to sleep,
and father came to me again. When I awoke, I told Pat he must go
and get the clothes.”
Asked whether she was totally unconscious in her swoon, she said
that she was. She did not see her father’s body in the coffin.
Miss Conley told Rev. Crum that she could read and write but had
no formal education. She did not wish to write out an account o f
the affair as she said she had already told Rev. Crum the facts and
he had recorded them. She was distraught and emotional in telling
her story, but tried to suppress her feelings.
It was subsequently brought out that Miss Conley had said that the
slippers were satin, and the newspaper had erred in saying that they
were of felt. Coroner Hoffmann stated that the slippers he placed
on the body were of satin.
There is a discrepancy as to the amount of money found. One
account says thirty-five dollars, another, that of George Brown, states
that the amount was thirty. However this is the only discrepancy
in the story.
 HYPNAGOGIC VISIONS 235

This seems to be a very strong case for discarnate motivation. If

the ghost be disregarded as a factor in the case, and the facts be
twisted, according to the theories of subconscious dramatization, the
case can be ascribed to extra-sensory perception. However this
mutilates the case, and the girl did not see the dirty clothes with the
roll of bills, but was told by her father that there was a roll of bills
inside his grey shirt, a shirt that was missing when the body was
returned. Her swoon may have occurred before the body was returned
to Ionia, and apparently she swooned again at the time of the return
of the body. The facts support the theory of discarnate intervention
in human affairs. Only by distorting them and by restringing the
items on a new thread of psychological invention, do they support
the theory of extra-sensory perception.

Hypnagogic Visions
B y P h y l l is C o lla r d

HAVE often wondered what place can be given to these curious

I experiences among the phenomena of psychism. To me, the ability
to see these pictures has always been a treasured faculty, and I think
they are misnamed, for they do not seem to me to have anything to
do with sleep. They will produce their show for a quiet mind, but
not for a harassed one : at least, that is my experience. I have called
them pictures, but that is a very inadequate description. At times it
is a little like watching a succession of lovely forms on a cinematograph
screen. It is a 3-D performance, and it is clear to me that I am observing
them, not consciously creating them. Often they surprise and delight
by their beauty and originality. The colour is wonderful beyond
anything I can describe, though occasionally they appear in black and
white. I seem to see them as a rule in a clear, bright, crystal lig h t;
sometimes they are iridescent, as though seen through a rainbow.
Now and then they are presented sideways, or upside down.
The variety is endless. There are vignettes, charming, fantastic or
comical. There are interiors, country-side and mountain scenery,
seascapes, glorious snow scenes. With the appearance of scenery and
interiors I acquire a new faculty—that of travel. Though still aware
234 LIGHT

that some aspect of myself remains in the body, I go on exploring

expeditions through houses, streets and country lanes, or wander
through the aisles of vast cathedrals. I meet people on these journeys,
but if they (or for that matter “I ”) can be said to be there at all, I am
certainly invisible to them. I remember coming face to face with a
crowd of laughing children who, to my disappointment, simply walked
through me. At any rate, my sense of being present in these scenes
is so vivid that I have to remind myself that I can walk into the houses
unseen, and that I need not stop to open doors, but can pass through
them.
These experiences can be shared, for I remember when we were
children that my brother and I, in bed in adjoining rooms with the
door open, used to “go expeditions” together. But we trailed no
clouds of glory. In fact these journeys were notably pedestrian
compared with my later adventures.
This is not true astral travel as I understand it, though it might
possibly be a prelude to it, if one only knew the next step in the process.
A curious experience I once had rather suggests this. A persistent
phenomenon is that of finding myself in a street, sometimes decked
with flags, sometimes deserted and wet with rain. I traverse, it seems,
miles and miles of these streets and grow exceedingly weary of them.
I then try to float up above the houses, and this is very difficult, as the
higher I go, the higher grow the houses. On the occasion in question,
after what seemed a terrific effort of will, I found myself floating,
quite away from my body, near the top of a church spire. Above
there were white clouds in a summer sky. My freedom did not last
long, for the occurrence so startled me that I fell back into bed again.
It seemed a genuine experience : I was “out”, inasmuch as my con­
sciousness was for an instant apparently released from my physical
brain. But where had I got to ? It was night in my bedroom : on
the weathercock at the top of that spire the sun was shining.
There are darker moments. Once, during the war, I was again
“ out”, it was night, and a hill on a battlefield was being lost or won.
There was a confusion of guns and men, smoke and great flashes in
the sky. In the tumult I heard only one thing distinctly—a boy’s
voice in anguish, crying : “Mother ! Mother ! Mother ! ” It is a
poignant recollection. I remember no more, but have always hoped
that some aspect of self that could be of use was there to give comfort.
Not all the experiences are as “ down to earth” as these. As an
example of one which is very difficult to put into words, I once found
myself, with an indescribable feeling of happiness and freedom, walking
 HYPNAGOGIC VISIONS 2 35

down a corridor built of transparent, iridescent planes set at angles to

one another, rather as if I were inside a prism, though the arrangement
of planes was more complicated than th a t; and although the effect
was of glass or crystal there was nothing solid about it. At the same
time, without any effort of the imagination, I was observing this thing
from the outside.
When I speak of these visions to other people, they tell me (unless
by chance they experience similar phenomena themselves) that I have
been dreaming. I say these things are not dreams. My friends repeat
that they are, or tell me it is my imagination. O f course they are the
product of the imagination; and so is Planck’s Constant, and West­
minster Abbey. And so we go on. I know, although there is only
my word for it, that these adventures are not dreams. They have not
the feel nor the appearance of dreams. The psychologist postulates
a personal unconscious in which is stored everything we have
experienced and have not remembered. If this unconscious is the
region in which one is wandering, what a thirst for experience one
must always have had, and what an inveterate collector of phenomena
one must have been, unawares. Moreover, how much that is interesting
and, one would have thought, memorable, has been experienced
and forgotten. But I do not think the explanation is quite as simple
as this.
If the visions are significant, I do not know of what. So far as I
can tell, they are evidential of nothing but their own beauty and
strangeness. I have sometimes tried to portray them, but the most
delicate technique, the clearest colours at an artist’s command, fail to
give the slightest idea of them. As to what it is that “sees”, I am
quite at a loss to know. It is not the eye, for the eye is usually (though
not always) closed. Concentrating on this problem with the visions
in progress, I have sometimes thought that one sees with some organ
towards the back of the head. I rather think that seeing these things
in the dark is not a detached phenomenon, but an intensification o f
what is always there : for at times of quiet reflection, or at any pause
in the business of life, I am aware of space being filled with a faint
coloured mirage, to which walls are no barrier, and contemplation of
which I know, though enticing, is a lure to be withstood if the day’s
work is to be done.
I find by experiment that it is possible to hold a chosen thought-
image in the mind, at the same time as, and quite independently o f
the visions. I am aware of consciously creating and controlling the
thought-image, while the others appear automatic and objective.
236 LIGHT

A Case of Bell-ringing
By J. E. R aw

IwithNunderthe mysterious
L ig h t for March,
1952, there was an account of my door-bell being rung
circumstances which later proved to have been co-incidental
unexpected passing of a ‘pen-friend’ in the U.S.A., together with a perfume
of roses which was on three occasions detected by two visitors and myself. The
deceased lady was keenly interested in the cultivation of roses.
"When news came by post which apparently gave some indication as to the origin
of the phenomena, the impression with me was that nothing further need be
expected as her desire to contact had been achieved ; and so it proved, as from
July, 1951 there was no repetition, until the 15th of October, 1952, when the
door-bell was again rung vigorously twice, without apparent cause.
The impression this time was that perhaps it had relation to ‘direct voice’ seances
arranged for the Saturday and Sunday following. I made resolve ATOT to mention
it to anyone, and to wait and see.
At the Sunday seance the officiating ‘guide’ announced that two ladies stood
behind me, that one was my wife with whom I had conversed the previous day.
Here he paused, muttering to himself that he knew Mr. E. (giving my brother’s
unusual Christian name), and also Mrs. E. (his wife) but that T H IS lady was saying
S H E was Mrs. E. : it was the same, but as surname. This was indeed correct
for my ‘pen-friend. He said he would let the lady speak for herself.
There was no mistaking the personality associated with that voice: an alert
business woman, direct, concise, fluent and knowing just how to express herself
in discussing our acquaintance, especially details of our extended tour of 1950.
It seemed as if her remarks had been premeditated, doubtless listed under headings,
and to emphasise some of them my shoulder was vigorously pushed many times.
Finally “ Mrs. E .” said she was much amused at my blank astonishment when
I answered her summons and so glad we had got her perfume.
My seance experiences date as far back as Cecil Husk and Mrs. Wreidt (at
Rothesay), so perhaps I may claim some discrimination. This recent phenomenon
fulfilled all requirements for proof of identity in view of the private and intimate
matters detailed without hints or questioning—the preparedness was so one-sided
I got little opportunity for more than monosyllabic acknowledgments. There
was a motive for the effort—of value to both.
Several readers wrote of their interest in the ringing of the door-bell and perhaps
this sequel may also please them. I feel prompted to relate briefly an earlier
series of ‘disturbances’ at the same door, though of a different nature and
association.
In February, 1916, there were loud rappings (blows is a more fitting term) as
though by a stout cane applied lengthwise thereby creating much noise : the
rapping was heard by our next-door neighbours, and, in fact, some consternation
resulted there as the maid’s bedroom was close to our doorway.
The first summons came on a Saturday night just after 10 p.m. and I was much
surprised on answering the door to see no-one : as it was pouring with rain and
 A CASE OF B ELLR IN G IN G 2 37

■we are somewhat in the country it seemed very odd. Next morning there came
the same loud raps, but I left it for my wife to answer the door as, to be truthful,
I was not then out of bed. When later she came up with a cup of tea she said
that it had been supposed I was in some way trying to amuse our infant son.
Soon after breakfast the lady at No. 12 called over the wall asking if the child
was alright as they had heard knocking. With No. 16 we fared rather less happily
because we incautiously remarked that we had wondered if the maid had been
roused by such means.
As the rapping again occurred Sunday night after 10 p.m., and again on Monday
morning just after 7 a.m., we began to take the game seriously and I took up
'‘spotting’ positions to apprehend the joker (if any). But there was no sign of
any intruder despite the disturbances, and naturally tension mounted daily as the
precise minutes, 10.7 p.m. and 7.10a.m. approached. Added to this predicament I
had made application for release in order to ‘join-up’—what if they occurred
when I was away ?
It had so happened that on the first Saturday of the rappings a brother had quite
unexpectedly come home from the Front to my parents who live in this district,
and it also transpired that his departure on the next Saturday morning at 6.30 a.m.,
■coincided precisely with these phenomena—the last rapping was on Friday night
and he departed just before the time for Saturday’s morning performance.
But that this affected our house was certainly a remote possibility—at least there
has never emerged any connection.
[Our Contributor has furnished us with his brother’s unusual Christian name and the
surname of his pen-friend which are identical. He states that at twelve seances held at
his home he has usually been selected to control the “direct-voice” medium on one side and
is confident that the control of the medium is satisfactory.—E d .]

* * *

For myself . . . I entertain no doubt whatever about a future life. I

deem it at least as certain as any of the hundred and one truths of the
framework of the world. It is no mere theological assertion which I am
prepared to accept in some moods and reject in others. . . The pain of
loss is, indeed, hard to bear, too hard, it sometimes seems, for human
strength. But, measured on the true scale of things, it is but brief; death
cannot long cheat us of love.—Lord Balfour.

* * *

There is something that watches over us, and our individuality

endures.— Tennyson
2 38
Light
Contributions of suitable length are invited and should be addressed to
T h e E d i t o r of L i g h t , i 6 Queensberrj Place, South Kensington, London,
S.W.-j, Phone : Kensington 3292-3.
Subscription— Rates (including postage)—12 months 19s. 6d.
6 months, 9s. 9 d .; or from Newsagents, is. 6d. monthly.

What Survives?
T has been the ambition of more than one person to try and discover
I whether there is anything in man that might be expected to survive
death. Some years ago it was hoped by some people, that
certain investigations in the U.S.A. might be pointing in that direction.
Experiments with the cloud chamber were reported to have produced
results suggesting that a “quantity” was liberated at or soon after
the instant of death, photographs of a defunct insect or small animaL
having exhibited something like a “double” or “phantom” of the
dead specimen. Further experiments, however, resulted in the
conclusion that the results were due to other causes ; and we remain
therefore in the same situation where we may ask ourselves : “What
survives ? ”
Most spiritualists maintain that what survives death is memory,
intelligence, identity, individuality, consciousness, and the faculty of
possessing mental experiences : in fact all that goes to make up what
is known as “personality.” They have been content to enquire,
therefore, not whether there is anything that could survive death, but
rather what evidence there is that what is known as “personality”'
still persists. Such an approach is perfectly legitimate and, in
the opinion of numerous students of the subject, more hopeful of
success, inasmuch as it is concerned with mind of which there is
already some evidence that it can function independently from the
bodily factor. With the recognition of personality, the discovery o f
something in man that might survive death had already been made;
that, presumably, is the contention of the majority of spiritualists.
It cannot be held, however, that personality is the sole possession
of human beings. Undoubtedly the higher animals possess it and it
is difficult to know where precisely to draw the line. Not long ago,
a correspondent, Lieut.-Colonel A . Tyndale-Biscoe, enquired through
 EDITORIAL 239

the columns ot L ig h t what readers thought on this subject. There

were no replies, the reason being possibly, the paucity of evidence
capable of standing a severe analysis, for animals are incapable of
bearing verbal witness of their own identity after death. Never­
theless it ought not to be overlooked that evidence of animal phantoms
has been obtained under strict experimental conditions in which the
possibility of fraud appears to have been satisfactorily provided against;
and that the animal phantoms reported in the Ivluski sittings were
said to have been accompanied by an odour appropriate to each.
The phantoms are stated to have included those of a lion-like creature,
an ape, a bird of prey and smaller animals, and it is a little difficult
to believe that all the sitters were the subject of hallucination or that
they were the victims of fraud, or that the whole of the phenomena
could have originated in the subconscious of the medium or sitters.
Our correspondent was particularly interested in the duration of
animal survival and in the conflicting views on the point expressed
through different mediums. It may be a mistake to introduce the
idea of time at all in any such discussion since time may well be an
illusion confined to this life, but if it must be introduced it might be
supposed that the measure of an animal’s survival would be the
measure of its own evolution as a conscious being, possibly qualified
by what response it might or might not meet from man, in affection,
understanding and encouragement. Some people believe, however,
that there is reason for suspecting that the “other world” is timeless,
an hypothesis somewhat supported by experiment and spontaneous
experience in precognition and retrocognition. The problem of
where and how animal life might exist after death need not arise at
all. If one regards the next state exclusively as a mental one,
one may arrive at the conclusion that it is a state which is “outside
of” time and space ; alternatively if it is thought that the next world
is composed of matter of a different order to that with which we are
familiar, there is, it would seem, infinity (whatever that is) for it to
occupy.
Whatever else survives, if there is indeed anything else in the nature
of man which could survive, spiritualists are firmly convinced, and
for excellent reasons, that personality does. But it is none the less
desirable that research by qualified persons should be encouraged in
this field, for although we speak of personality and cannot doubt its
existence, we are still no closer to an understanding of it. As with
electricity, we are aware of it and in close and constant association
with it, without knowing in the least what it is.
240 LIGHT

Summary Report of the First International

Conference of Parapsychological Studies held
at Utrecht, 30th July—5th August, 1953
H E first International Conference of Parapsychological Studies
T met at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands, from July 30th to
August 5th, 1953. Sixty-three members, drawn from fourteen
nationalities, and comprised largely of physicists, chemists, biologists,
psychologists, sociologists, physicians, engineers and mathematicians,
met to consider problems which arise in the investigation of types of
communication between individuals which are not explicable in terms
of any known form of contact through the sense organs, and types
o f contact between individuals and their physical environments which
are not explicable in terms of contemporary physics and biology-
processes designated genetically as psi-gamma (paranormal cognition)
and psi-kappa (paranormal action upon bodies not in physical contact
with the individual). Such processes are often entitled “telepathy,”
“ clairvoyance,” “psychokinesis,” etc.
After preliminary sessions delimiting the field of enquiry, four
working groups were established : the first dealing with quantitative
experimental studies of the various classes of paranormal activity ; the
second with interpretation of material gathered in the practice of
psychiatry; the third with qualitative and spontaneous (not experi­
mentally controlled) phenomena ; and the fourth with the psycholo­
gical study of those persons who appear to display a relatively large
amount of paranormal sensitivity (“special sensitives”). Fifty-seven
papers were presented in all.
Attention was given to the establishment and maintenance of
scientific standards, the development of appropriate experimental and
quantitative methods, the devices for discovering specially sensitive
individuals, and the most profitable ways in which to combine and
extend the concepts and methods of the various sciences in an attempt
to understand more fully the relations between the living organism
and the environment. The various scientific groups discussed the
possibility of developing a theory sufficiently comprehensive to give
some sort of order to the variety of phenomena described.
While most of the problems have been investigated for many years
by individual scientists and by societies for psychical research, the
spread of interest among scientists has been notable in recent years ;
 PARAPSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE 241

and a primary activity of the Conference, beyond the authentication

of various classes of facts, was the effort to develop a scientific pro­
gramme to deal with all types ot unknown relations between individual
and environment, whether at present classifiable or not.
There was, for example, marked interest in the problems of
unexplained or “unorthodox” healing (recoveries from disease
transcending the present concepts of psychosomatic medicine) ; and
a medical committee was established and empowered to take the first
.steps towards the organization of a Research Centre for the investi­
gation and interpretation of such phemonena.
While most of the research workers in the field of parapsychology
.are known to one another through the technical journals, the
opportunity to meet for a week under University auspices with the
financial support of the Parapsychology Foundation marked an
important forward step in understanding across the barriers of
.nationality, language, and professional specialisation.
The Conference established a Secretariat and a Publication Centre
at the University of Utrecht, and a series of Committees charged with
arranging subsequent meetings of specialized groups; e.g., the physicists
and engineers among the groups to meet with other physical scientists
to share the experimental problems presented at the meeting, the
psychiatrists to meet with other psychiatrists, etc.
Representative figures at the Conference included R. A. McConnell
o f the Biophysics Laboratory of the University of Pittsburgh ; Gardner
Murphy, Director of Research at the Menninger Foundation, Topeka,
K ansas; H. H. Price, Professor of Philosophy, Oxford University;
Gabriel Marcel, of the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques ;
Hans Schaefer, Professor of Physiology, Heidelberg University; and
S. G. Soal, Professor of Mathematics at the University of London.

This Conference is of the greatest importance and will, without doubt have far-
reaching results. The Editor received the following letter from the Secretary of the
London Spiritualist Alliance, Mrs. Muriel Hankey, who was present, and \it is felt
that its publication in L ig h t will interest and meet the desires of readers. The
value of this Conference of men eminent in their own subjects can hardly be
over-estimated.—E d .

U trech t ,
7th August, 1953
Dear Mr. Berry,
It was my hope by this time to have been able to send you a full report of the
■Conference. Unfortunately this is not possible, firstly because the Conference
lias been on a scale of such magnitude that it is not possible in such a brief space
242 LIGHT

of time to extract a precis from the 57 papers submitted and the reports of the
various discussions and working groups. Secondly, it was decided by th e
governing committee that no independent reports should be published until the
official report was issued, which may not be ready until some little time from now.
I am permitted, however, to send you the enclosed Summary Report for L ig h t '
which will indicate the wide scope of the Conference and the catholicity of the
subjects, under consideration. England was well represented by 19 delegates out
of a total of about 63 drawn from countries all over the world.
For myself I may tell you that I consider it a great thing to have been privileged
to be present at this Conference—a historical mark in the history of Psychical
Research—and I am profoundly grateful to Mrs. Eileen Garrett and to all.
who made it possible for me to sit at the feet (metaphorically) of eminent men
supreme in their own fields of research. In addition it was pleasant to renew old
friendships and to meet with people who had previously only been known through
their works or correspondence. International concord was certainly promoted
in this way.
From the enclosed summary you will see th e, richness of the intellectual fare
that was offered to the delegates. The sole murmur of complaint could only
be that too much was offered ; it was difficult to make the choice between three
programmes offered at the same time—something like having a smug seat in the
Centre Court at Wimbledon but knowing that the most exciting matches were
proceeding on Courts 1 and 2.
This Conference has been a most wonderful and enriching experience. It has
all gone so smoothly from the moment we touched down at Amsterdam where
Mrs. Garrett kindly met the English contingent in person. At Utrecht it was
thrilling to watch the delegates arriving from all parts. We were wonderfully
well received by the Dutch Committee, whose hospitality and kindness exceed,
all bounds.
By courtesy of the extraordinary generosity and enlightenment of the Dutch,
people, the Conferences were held in the Senate Hall and adjoining rooms of the
beautiful University building, in an atmosphere of quiet dignity. Albeit the
conveniences of modern facilities were not forgotten. The desks were fitted with
headphones through which by the turn of a knob one could hear the miracle of
English, French and German simultaneous translation. A tape recording was
made of every spoken word, and each day we were supplied with a transcript of
the previous day’s verbatim reports. The colossal amount of work that this
entailed may be imagined. (My own collection of records had to be sent home
in three separate parcels). The interpreters and secretariat staff did a tremendous
job of work, often working late into the night. The organisation was superbly
done.
Much hard work was done by everyone ; six or more hours were spent every
day at the University, with Committees and Groups working “overtime” at the
Hotel, but there was time for play, too.
You may be interested to hear of a delightful excursion that we enjoyed last
Sunday, when we were taken on a tour of this lovely countryside, calling at some
of the quaint fishing villages where the Dutch folk were strolling around in their
national dress. We then proceeded to Baarn, and had a sumptuous lunch in the
beautiful surroundings of Kastel “ De Hooge Vuursche.” The Menu for this
luncheon, composed by a Hollander, may interest you :
 PARAPSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE 2 43
MENU
A randomised series of preliminary
foodstuffs for DT-test in E SP

A run through a few decks of “vol au vent”

ESP-cards

Displacement effects in some plant and meat

growing tests and digesting experiments.

A Siberian Poltergeist with gushes of icy

air currents and lowering temperature.

-which being interpreted means the most delicious assortment of hot and cold
viands that you can imagine. After luncheon we were entertained to a charming
display of traditional folk dancing. Then we visited Amsterdam, where some
of us went to see the Van Gogh Exhibition, and others to see Rembrandt’s “Night
Watch”, after which we were again regaled with the glass that cheers, and had
a happy drive back to the hotel.
A film was made at various stages of the Conference, from the embarking in
‘New York of the American Contingent, the arrival of aeroplanes at Amsterdam,
the Civic Reception at the opening of the Conference, the Reception at the Museum,
the speakers, the translators, the technicians, the excursion, the luncheon party,
and so on. We have seen the first showing of this epoch-making film, and are
to have a repeat showing tomorrow for our Dutch friends.
Forgive this sketchy letter, written in between whiles. I find I have told you
nothing of the personalities attending the Conference, but these you will find in
the “Who’s Who” that I shall bring back with me, and from it you will understand
so much better than I can tell you in a letter, the importance of this gathering
together of Parapsychologists. The Conference ended on a note of triumphant
achievement and hope for the future, and a deep emotional unity that cannot
be translated into words.
Yours sincerely,
M uriel H ankey .

* * *

Time is but a figment of the brain and the senses. Timeless Eternity is
the immortal fact and therein you and we take our place hand in hand
together.—Lord Conway of Allington
 244 LIGHT

I Lived in a Haunted House

By J. G.

(The Author of the following is well known to us as a correspondent o f

long standing.—E d .)

w H EN I was a child of eight we moved into my grandmother’s

house in the town of S-------- in Northern Iowa. It was x
sturdy, well-built house, two storied, double plastered walls and firm
rock foundation. In that cold winter climate where the thermometer
often dropped to twenty below zero, houses were made solidly. My
grandmother had died the winter before in the house, and my younger
brother had died shortly before we moved away from our farm. I
still had an older brother and two older sisters. Shortly after we
moved into this house, in fact only eight months, my next oldest
sister, a girl of thirteen, died after a short illness. In those days (i 897),,
in those small Western towns, the undertaker used to come to the
house to lay out the dead.
The evening of the day my sister died, my mother, my brother and
I were sitting around the diningroom table. The front door, which
was an unusually heavy one and had a bell which always jingled when,
ever the door was opened and closed, opened on to a hall from which
an inside stairway led to the upper rooms. Another door opened into
the diningroom. My father and elder sister had gone out on some
errands. We heard the door open, the bell jingled, and then the door
closed with a jar, as usual. Then we heard heavy steps, like those
of an elderly man, going up the stairs. With each step something like
a metal chain clanked and clattered. My mother started, and
exclaimed :
“ There’s Mr. Stahlberg, now.” We all stayed where we were, not
wanting to go up stairs while he was there at his task. Time went
on and my mother audibly wondered why he was so long. Finally
we heard a ring at the door. Going to the door we found Mr.
Stahlberg.
“Did you forget something ?” my mother asked. He was a German
and spoke brokenly. “No, I just dis minute came,” he answered.
“But I heard you go upstairs, I’m sure I did,” my mother said. He
became quite exasperated and insisted he had just come. A few
minutes later my sister and father returned. No one had come in, or
gone up those stairs. The mystery of those footsteps and that clanking

L
 I LIVED IN A HAUNTED HOUSE 24 I
of metal was never solved. Four years later (1901) my elder sister
died.
My mother whose health was very precarious, was convalescing from
illness on a couch downstairs in what we called a sitting room. It
was a warm night in early Fall, while the grass was still green, and
warm enough to have the doors open although we kept the screen-
door fastened. I had a small dog who slept in the kitchen. My
father was at a friend’s house. It was about eight o’clock. Suddenly
without any warning the most tremendous blow struck the side of the
house. The windows rattled, although they were firmly placed. As
I have said, the house was of solid construction. It sounded like
nothing less than as if a heavy wagon had run full tilt into the house.
My mother was much alarmed and told me to run outside quickly
to see what had hit the house. I did so, running fast around the house
to the side bordered by the street. It was bright moonlight and not
a soul was visible and not a sign of anything, no mark upon the house.
All was absolutely still. I came in and hooked the screen door after
me. A moment later I heard the back door open and shut. I
thought I must have left it open and that the dog had gone out. I
ran back to the kitchen and found the dog asleep and the door
hooked from the inside.
Years passed and the old house seemed to be quiet although I
could always hear footsteps at night, but this was always attributed
to my imagination. One room in particular, which had been a small
bedroom and which we used as a storeroom, had a sinister effect on
me. If I were alone in the house and reading in there (which
was a favourite pastime of mine), a feeling of dread would grow
and grow upon me until I could stand it no longer and would
come dashing like a wild thing down the stairs and out of doors.
In the summer of 1911 I was preparing to go abroad to study. It
was early August and a warm clear beautiful day with a cloudless sky.
My aunt was visiting us and we were all sitting down to our midday
meal. My father had been working upon the roof, repairing the brick,
chimney, and had left a sort of scaffolding up there with hammer and
tools. All of a sudden, the most terrific clatter arose over our heads.
It sounded as if the whole chimney had collapsed and was falling
down on the roof below. My father, who was an avowed sceptic of
all “supernatural” manifestations, cried, “By George, there goes that
chimney! ”
He was the first outside and then came my mother, my aunt and
I all standing there ga2ing up at the roof. As we ran out we heard
246 LIGHT

a loud thudding such as might be caused by a heavy hammer or brick

bounding from one roof to the next and then the sound of rustling
dry leaves as the bricks hit the ground. We all noticed it. But to
our amazement, there was nothing whatever disturbed. No bricks
had fallen, the hammer had not moved, there was not a sound of
anything nor sign of anything being out of place. My father looked
as perplexed as a man could be, and we all felt a trifle shaken, for it
had been such a tremendous hullaballoo that we fully expected to see
the bricks lying all over the grass. The strangest thing of all was the
sound of objects falling on D R Y L E A V E S . There were none, for
it was full summer and nothing but grass surrounded the house.
The only possible connection I could ever make, with that sound,
was that in November my mother’s elder sister who had been a woman
of pronounced psychic powers, died. That would have been in the
time of the autumn and the dead leaves.
It was not until I was much older that my mother told me that the
original owner of the house had committed suicide, coming home one
day and going up stairs and cutting his throat. When I asked what
room it was, she said the people had told her it was the small bedroom
on the east side. Before my grandfather’s death, and also before the
death of my younger brother my mother had heard a peculiar sound,
very much like the sound of a huge amount of feathers dropped on
the top of the house. It was a dull muted sound, and the first time
she heard it she thought nothing of it but when she heard it again
followed by the death of another member of the family, she remembered
it. The loud crash we all heard might have been in some way con­
nected with the “warning.”
My own theory of these inexplicable sounds is that they are equivalent
to an explosion of energy. Some effort has been made in another
medium, on another plane, the result sounds to our ears like a loud
crash or thud or rap, yet the real attempt might have been something
akin to what happens, in a small degree, when something in the
laboratory explodes. There may be experimenters on the O T H E R
side who have experiments that misfire, as well as the ones on earth.

* * *
I am waiting to go on to the next life, where I am confident all our
o u r affections and love will be as on this earth, w ith freedom from
m aterial restrictions and scope to advance from whatever stage in developm ent
we had reached here.— S i r O l iv e r L o d g e .
 247

Dog Story
By Colonel D. M. N oyes-L ewis

Y route to the station seldom varies from day to day, and

M includes a lane between a railway embankment and a row of
small houses. Until quite recently an inhabitant of this lane was a
dreadful black mongrel dog, lop-eared and dejected to the lowest
degree. He would slink up to me with his right ear pricked, mumbling
in his throat in a would-be threatening manner, which would vanish
at the first sign of any defensive move on my part.
About a month ago, on a nice sunny day I passed through the lane,
and the black “pi” came slinking towards me. Suddenly he stopped,
and “propped” as a startled horse w ill: the dog’s right ear was vertical
in alert amaze, and he started a low moan, then turned tail and dis­
appeared round the corner of the lane. As I approached this corner
I saw a black ear, and a very scared looking eye swivelled at me, then
with a stream of yelps and screams the black pi fled, still shrieking,
and I have never seen him since.
Within a space of three minutes or so after the flight of the black
dog I saw a nice looking well-kept brown dog trotting up to me. To
my great surprise, at about ten yards from me, this dog, until then
unknown to me “propped” with the same signs of alarm, tucked his
tail down, and turning about fled yelping in terror, and I could hear
him going until his cries faded in the distance.
. I arrived at the station wondering whether the staff would “ down
tools” and flee with cries of panic, but, to my relief, they were, and
remained, quite normal in behaviour and manner, as I was myself, so
far as I knew.
“ What is the answer ? ”
I am always friendly to our lesser brethren, and, being very fond
of horses, dogs and cats, can usually get a quick and cheerful response
to any proffered friendliness.
I am acquainted with the signs and sensations of a visitor from
another Plane, either “friendly” or the reverse, but in the case of the
two dogs I was unaware of abnormality in myself, or in the ‘atmos­
phere’ and cannot find the answer to this strange incident.
248 LIGHT

REVIEWS

Your Normal Mind, Its Tricks and Quirks, by Luby Pollack. Rider and Company.
1953. 16s.

HE author of “Your Normal Mind” has “set out upon a search of the strange
T and weird mental phenomena that happen to normal people.” As a psychia­
trist’s wife Mrs. Pollack is well qualified to write on this subject, and her book
is racy and popular in style, full of anecdote and example attractively set forth,
easily to be absorbed by the lay reader. Early in the book we meet the consoling
statement: “It should not seem so unusual for everybody to act a little peculiarly,
every now and then, and still be considered normal, because slight deviations
from the normal are what is normal in a human being.”
Many of the “tricks and quirks” included among these deviations would be
considered by spiritualists as quite possibly psychic or supernormal. But Mrs.
Pollack is a true scion of the scientists and somewhat unwilling to concede that
we do in fact ever witness or experience supernormal activity. All visions, and
even the voices of Saint Joan are by her classed as hallucinations ; and the array
of evidence she provides to sustain her arguments is formidable. To reassure
us she writes : “ We, as adults, have learned through time and experience to judge
(usually) when we’re being hoodwinked by our minds.” And a little farther on :
“ There is one saving aspect of this illusion business—and an important one.
Our illusions seldom last long. We all get duped, we all get our perceptions
twisted out of shape ; but we usually ‘snap out’ of them before too late. This
ability of the mind to correct its errors is one of the gratifying marks of the normal
man.”
After dealing with illusions, hallucinations, “De ja Vu,” synesthesia, the activity
of the unconscious or the subconscious mind, hypnosis, telepathy and clairvoyance,
superstitions and the “death wish,” Mrs. Pollack is inclined to concede that there
are some things the psychologist does not yet understand. Her belief would seem
to be that when this unknown territory of the mind is explored in the future it
will be found to be “normal.” Well, I think that is where the psychologist and
the spiritualist will eventually meet in agreement. The spiritualist, however,
already feels that he has some knowledge of this hidden territory which for the
time being he is content to call “supernormal.”
In the meantime we can accept Mrs. Pollack’s general statement : “ The real
wonder comes to be that we should be surprised at all by the strange and wonderful
things that come out of human beings' when we have such broad hints of the
world of mystery that resides therein.” This is her dictum on telepathy : “ Such
startling happenings are frequent, many so sensational, so incredible, that if only
they could be proved objectively they would shake our whole body of knowledge
and change our perspective on man and his world. Yet no one is rushing to
the newspapers to stop the presses and headline the news. Why ? Because none
of these fantastic happenings has ever been satisfactorily explained by the rigid
requirements and methods of science.” But have they not ?
V.S.
AT
R EV IE W S 249

Poltergeist down the Centuries, by Hereward Carrington and Nandor Fodor. Rider
and Co. 16s.

D ESCRIPTION : 200 pages in two parts, the first by Dr. Carrington and the
second by Dr. Fodor. This work is not a comprehensive study but a collection
o f papers dealing with poltergeist phenomena.
Part I includes a valuable and unique summary of 375 poltergeist cases, arranged
in chronological order and giving sources of information. The remaining chapters
o f this section deal with the historical aspect of the subject and consider certain
cases in detail.
Part II contains stories of poltergeists and two papers on the psychoanalytic
approach to the subject with regard to which Dr. Fodor advances the claim that
his views are unique. He states that heretofore the phenomena have been examined
solely from the view point of the physical scientist with no satisfactory result of
the real nature and causes of the events examined. He claims such phenomena
yield results when individuals concerned are subject to psychoanalysis which reveals
the poltergeist phenomena as due to psychological disturbances in the minds of
certain persons connected with the physical events. Dr. Fodor rejects any
postulates of actions caused by invisible entities, disembodied spirits or unknown
powers of action at a distance.
Criticism :—Dr. Hereward Carrington, as always in his many and well known
books, is clear, logical, informative and stimulating. Not to have read Carrington
is to have missed something good in psychic literature.
As regards Dr. Nandor Fodor’s contribution, the reader will find difficulty in
not being tripped up by the cloak of the professional psychologist which the
Doctor spreads over the issue at stake. To avoid this it is suggested that the
meaning conveyed by the word poltergeist should be clearly borne in mind. This
meaning contains three elements: that physical objects move, that the cause of
movement is not known and that a degree of intelligent purpose is revealed.
Dr. Fodor in the cases he analyses assigns a normal cause to the movement or
asserts the movements do not occur. He maintains an individual with a dis­
turbed mind cunningly deceives onlookers and surreptitiously throws the objects,
going to any .length to conceal the articles before throwing ; or the individual
falsely asserts the phenomena as taking place. It will be seen then that Dr.
Fodor does not admit poltergeist phenomena to occur in actual fact, for he
eliminates one or more of the three elements which must be present, if the event
is to be correctly termed poltergeistic.
C.A.L.B.

Revue Metapsychique, July-August 1953.

MUCH of this issue is taken u p ’with translations of Dr. D. J. West’s Guide

to Parapsychological Tests and Dr. R .H . Thouless’ Myers Memorial Lecture
for 1952. Besides an interesting account of recent psychometry experiments at
The International Metapsychic Institute, an essay on the famous Trianon Case
■etc., there are the usual reviews of books. It is announced that the first Laboratory
for the study of Metapsychics in Portugal has just been opened in Lisbon.
250 LIGHT

The Journal of the American S.P.R., July 1953.

HIS issue contains Dr. Gardner Murphy’s Paper on the Importance of Spon­
T taneous Cases of Paranormal Events and an essay by Dr. M. Millhauser on
Robert Chambers, the encyclopedist, and the “ Supernatural” . It is now well
known that Dr. Rhine has taken up the question of Spontaneous Cases and D r.
Murphy’s Paper serves to underline the potential importance of this study. Dr.
Millhauser has assembled much interesting information about Robert Chambers
and his connection with Spiritualism. There are excellent book reviews by such
well known people as Gerald Heard, Dr. C. J. Ducasse, Drs. J. B. Rhine, E. K.
Schwartz and W. O. Stevens.

The Journal of Parapsychology, June 1953.

LOUISA E. RHINE contributes a long paper on the study of about 1,000 cases
of Subjective Forms of Spontaneous Psi Experiences. The analysis and discus­
sion of these cases makes most interesting reading. Papers on Position Effects by
Dr. J. G. Pratt and on Precognition Experiments by E. W. Bastin and J. M. Green
are followed by a letter from Dr. J. R. Swanton addressed to 125 of his fellow
Authropologists in the U.S.A. Dr. Swanton calls for a truly scientific approach
to Psi Experiences. It is to be heartily wished that good results may flow from
the circulation of this appeal.
D. B. Stevens , Major, R.M., A.C.A.

The Communion of Saints, by Reverend W. S. Pakenham-Walsh, m.a., Vicar o f

Sulgrave, Nr. Banbury, Oxon. Price 2s. 8d. post free. Obtainable from the
Author, The Vicarage, Sulgrave.
HIS booklet, now in its third edition, is a valuable contribution, inasmuch
T as to many, and particularly to those who entertain religious doubts and scruples
in this connection, it will bring enlightenment and comfort. The Author rightly
warns those who today make the same error that resulted in the martyrdom of
Joan of Arc. In Bible, in history and in the present day, he traces
this communion with the unseen world, illustrating it by the experiences
of fellow-Clergy and of a medical man well known to him. “This Movement,’*
he says, “is awakening or restoring faith to many who had either never
possessed it or who, for one cause or another, had lost it.” Written,,
naturally, from a clergyman’s point of view, some spiritualists might not agree
with the Author in the possible dangers he sees'in the use of non-Christian mediums,
but it is a book of great courage and it is not surprising to hear that it is getting
about. It is a good book to place in the hands of the bereaved and others, especially
those with a Christian background to whom it will naturally possess an added
appeal.
S.B.
 CORRESPONDENCE
I t is regretted that some correspondence has had to he held over, but it is hoped that
space for same may he available later.—Ed.

Sir,—In Major D. B. Stevens’s address to the L.S.A., reported in the July issue
o f L ig h t , he asks : “ Where are the leaders who will think out new viable policies ?”
and suggests that the L.S.A., following the middle path, might harmonize the
differing views of the Spiritualist societies and churches. A viable policy is by
definition one which has life and will survive. I venture to think that the Alliance
has such a policy, which evolved out of its experience and forms the growing-point
fo r future development. As I see it, it is this : to provide its members and visitors
with food for thought on Spiritualistic matters, and to offer them a field, in L ig h t
and in the lecture room, in which, if their thinking is significant, they may express
their ideas—but not to do their thinking for them. This is not only sound policy
{and possibly in these difficult times the only useful one) but also the true foundation
o f modern relationship between a body of experience and those seeking enlighten­
ment. It is the way of the wise psychologist, who counters his pupils’ questions
with : “ What do you think about it ?”—And it is from this direction, from the
ideas of those stimulated to think by the attitude of the Alliance, that future
policies may be expected to evolve.
Such an attitude is steady but flexible : up-to-date and yet fundamental. Pursuing
it, the Alliance may well be the catalyst, the unchanging changer, that will eventually
harmonize differences.
P hyllis C ollard .

Sir,—I am interested in ‘astral projection’, or ‘travelling clairvoyance’ and would

like any help by readers. I should like to hear from any who have had personal
-experience of the phenomenon, as well as additions to the published accounts by
Bazett, L.M., Bertrand, Rev., Bulford, S., Costa, G., d’esperance, Mme., Eeden,
D r. van, Einarson, G. J., Fancher, M., Fox, O., Funk, Dr. I. K., Garrett, Mrs. E. J.,
Geddes, Sir A., Gerhardi, Wm., Gibier, Dr., Gilber, Mrs. A., Hamilton Miss Gail,
Hepworth, Rev., Hives, F., Home, D. D., Hout, Dr. R. B., Hymans, M. L.,
Kaeyer S., Kellet, Dr., Larsen, Mrs., Leaf, H., Leonard, Mrs., Lester, R. M.,
Muldoon, S., Morrell, E., Okeden, H., Ogston, Sir A., Ostby, Dr. O., Pelley, D.,
Price, N., Rose, Dr. O., Rebell, F., Simons, Dr. C. E., Smith, Dr. Enid, Turvey, V.,
Vlasek, Mme., Wiltze, Dr., Wheeler, J. C., Wirt, B. B., and Yram.
R. CROOKALL, D.SC., Ph.D.

Sir,—Readers’ help is requested in two matters. Clairvoyants who observed the

phenomenon, described the process of dying. First, the writer, having noted
published accounts by Gambier Bolton, Annie Brittain, A. J. Davis, ‘Mr. G.’
{S.P.R., xiii, 308), Eileen Garrett, Geoff. Hodson, John Lobb, Dorothy Monk,
Stainton Moses, Mrs. de Morgan, Joy Snell, W. T. Pole, J. C. Street, Hudson
Tuttle, and Marjorie Tweedale, asks to be sent additional published, or personal
descriptions.
252 LIGHT

Most of the accounts of the process of dying (telling of a cloud-like substance

that leaves the body and gradually assumes human form) are of ordinary death-beds.
Secondly, therefore, I would like published, or personal accounts of clairvoyants’
visions of abnormal deaths—in accidents, war, etc.
Where an account is from a published source, the description should be ac­
companied by details as to (a) the name of clairvoyant who saw it, (b) the name
of the book, or periodical, in which it appeared, (c) its date, (d) the author o f
the book (if differing from the describer of the phenomenon) and (e) the name o f
the publisher (if a book).
The undersigned appreciates the help he has already received regarding astral,
projection. He still desires to hear of such experiences. In addition, he is-
interested in observations regarding the “silver cord,’ whether in the dying, in
astral projection or in materializations (the number of cords seen, their colour,,
their thickness at various distances from the physical body, etc.). Photographs
that show the cord are particularly valuable.
R. CROOKALL, D.SC., Ph.D_

* * *

FIFTY YEARS AGO

Extract from L ig h t 26th September 1903.

(A quotation from a review by Sir Oliver Lodge, of “Human Personality and its
Survival of Bodily Death" by F. W. H . Myers, in “The Quarterly”)
Comparing the attitude of Mr. Podmore and Mr. Myers towards trance messages
or unconscious utterances or writings. Sir Oliver says : “But while the generally
confused and sometimes trivial contents of such messages lead Mr. Podmore to
suppose them the product solely of subliminal activity, stimulated in some cases
by telepathy from persons present, or occasionally from unknown persons absent
or even from documents existing somewhere in the neighbourhood, Myers, on
the other hand, considered the contents and manner of some of the utterances
to be just what might naturally be expected if they were really messages coming
from another state of existence through machinery adapted to communication in
our present state. Consequently he became gradually convinced, allowing to the
full for subliminal activity, that some of the communications, at any rate, were
what they purported to be . . .”

* * *

Our dissatisfaction with any other solution is

the blazing evidence of immortality.—Emerson.
 LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCE
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S P ECI AL NOTI CE
TUESDAY, 15th SEPTEMBER at 6.30 p.m.
MRS. EILEEN GARRETT, President of the Parapsychology
Foundation, has kindly consented to speak on the First Inter­
national Conference of Parapsychology recently held at Utrecht.
TUESDAY, 6th OCTOBER at 6.30 p.m
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL LORD DOWDING
on
“ The Fairies and Other Etheric Lines o f Evolution ”
THURSDAY, 29th OCTOBER at 6.30 p.m.
A DISCUSSION on
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Principal Speakers: Brigadier R.C. FIREBRACE, C.B.E.,
Mr. L. E. EEMAN, and The Reverend V. C. ROSE
SEATS may be reserved in advance for the above special meetings

UNUSUAL
MY OCCULT CASE BOOK by
Frank Lind. Dreams, astral projection,
fairies, poltergeists, phantoms, witches,
divination, and the lost continent of
Atlantis are among the subjects dealt with
by the well-known contributor to Predic­
tion for the last fifteen years. Ulus. 12/6
WITCHCRAFT and BLACK MAGIC
by M ontague Sum m ers. “. . . a
scholarly guide . . . This packed treatise
on the cults of hell . . .”—The Observer.
“ . . . rich in detail and lively in narration”
— Daily Despatch. 2nd Imp. Ulus. 25 /-
THE MEDIUMSHIP OF JACK
W EBBER by Harry Edwards. “ I
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